So, we’ll get the excuses out of the way:
- The Celtics were missing Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford against the Heat on Wednesday;
- They had just one day back in Boston after a two-week road trip;
- Shooting 28 percent from deep is just an unfortunate shooting night more than anything else;
- And Erik Spoelstra has some sort of deal with the devil that allows him to keep the Heat competitive in literally any circumstances.
With all of that in mind — that was an ugly loss!
The Celtics saw their nine-game win streak snapped at the hands of Miami on Wednesday, as Boston followed the first 6-0 road trip in franchise history with a bit of a dud at TD Garden.
The Celtics spent the middle quarters chasing double-digit deficits, then suddenly closed the gap to just 4 points in the fourth, then went ice-cold with just 8 points in the last eight minutes.
It was a particularly bad Jayson Tatum game, with Boston’s star finishing with just 16 points on a rancid 4 of 17 from the field, his worst shooting night of the season. It was one of those evenings where Tatum just started settling for difficult shots from deep — he fired eight pull-up or step-back 3-pointers, missing seven of them and only hitting one when he found himself wide open at the top of the key.
The main question after this one: Do you care? Do I care? Should anyone care?
The Celtics are virtually locked into the No. 2 seed at this point, and Wednesday night, absences aside, looked like a team that wanted to win against a team that needed to win as the Heat try to claw their way to a No. 8 seed and out of the second play-in.
It does remain strange, though, how much Boston has struggled at home this season. The Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach had a fun (“fun”) stat the other night: the Celtics are 0-5 this season in the first game back at home after road trips of at least three games.
The Celtics are on track for a 60-win season (or close, depending on how seriously they take the final six games) but the home/road splits have been drastic — Boston is playing at a 67-win pace on the road and a 53-win pace at home.
The good news: if all goes as expected in the playoffs, the Celtics would likely miss out on home-court advantage in the last two rounds in the postseason if matchups with the Cavaliers and/or Thunder materialize in May and June.
A Game 7 on the road? Just where Boston wants them.
In the end, Wednesday’s loss to Miami is pretty meaningless. Don’t tell Joe Mazzulla that, though.
“I mean, we’re all pissed,” Mazzulla said. “We all hate losing. And that was my message. It was a good reminder that losing still sucks. So I love the fact that the staff are all miserable. Guys are pissed.”
So as the Celtics turn their attention to the weekend, with the Suns in town Friday and the Wizards Sunday, all that’s really left to do is get guys right for the playoffs. One worry point there has been Jaylen Brown, who continues to battle a nagging knee issue with the playoffs approaching.
“I was in some pain today,” Brown said Wednesday. “But just pushing through it. Trying to find ways to still be aggressive and add value to the team but it’s something I have to work through. [I’ll] just say for now it hurts. That’s it.”
Cool! Nothing to worry about there, then!
Fingers crossed, Brown’s fancy necklace that transmits melatonin and caffeine or whatever also has an add-on for anti-inflammatories (for an extra $19.99 a month, of course).
Let’s get into it.
By Gary Washburn
The most important aspect of the Celtics’ loss Wednesday to the Heat was Jaylen Brown adjusting to playing major minutes at far less than 100 percent.
From the opening tip, it was apparent the Heat were the more desperate team, fighting to avoid the win-or-go-home play-in game in two weeks. They were the better team in the 124-103 victory as the Celtics rested three rotation players. Jayson Tatum, as much as he wanted to play all 82 games, probably could have used a night off himself, missing 13 of 17 shots.
Brown, meanwhile, returned to the lineup with a fresh haircut, determined to play quality minutes on that balky knee that has been an issue for weeks. As the Celtics have returned to their 2024 play in the past few weeks, Brown has been on the periphery, trying to get healthy, trying to get consistency, trying to regain the form that allowed him to be the Eastern Conference and NBA Finals MVP.
Other top stories we’re watching …
Congrats to Joe Mazzulla, an I’m-not-keeping-count-anymore winner of the Joe Mazzulla Quote of the Week.
A few Celtics were asked by NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg to name an actor they’d like to be portrayed by in a movie about the Celtics, which … nobody really had an answer to.
I think you could probably predict Mazzulla’s answer without me telling you, but here it is anyway:
“They should never waste an ounce of time doing that. That’s stupid. Why would anyone waste time playing me in a movie. I’d be very upset if someone wasted one penny on that.”
I pity anyone who ever had to make that man do an icebreaker activity.
An honorable mention: this exchange between TNT’s Kevin Harlan (an absolute gem, and one of the nicest people you’ll meet) and Reggie Miller, amid some an incredible sequence in the Lakers-Warriors game that had Harlan repeating his signature “GOOOOOD!” call:
Harlan: It’s Podziemski, his three — GOOOOOD!
Miller: Are you tired of saying “GOOOOD!” my friend?
Harlan: [in the same voice] NOOOOO!
Writing it out doesn’t do it justice, so just watch the clip if you have a minute to spare this afternoon.
Big week for recent MVPs doing incredible things, and other recent MVPs doing, uh, other things.
After a couple of weeks managing not to mention Nikola Jokic, I’m back to wax poetic about my favorite goofy Serbian savant, who posted one of the craziest statlines in NBA history on Tuesday.
Ready for this? Just 61 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, the highest-scoring triple-double in NBA history. I was ready to do the whole “since Wilt Chamberlain” thing, but nope, not even Wilt has done that.
The best part: the Nuggets lost.
How? Well, with a little help from another triple-double connoisseur and former MVP in teammate Russell Westbrook.
At the end of a wild double-overtime game between the Nuggets and Timberwolves, Denver held a 1-point led when Westbrook and Christian Braun got out on a 2-on-1 fast break in the final seconds.
What followed was one of the worst 10-second sequences you’ll ever see a professional basketball player have, as Westbrook blew a wide-open layup — Minnesota’s Mike Conley pretty much laid out the red carpet for him — then committed a pretty unforgivable foul on a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Timberwolves three free throws to steal the game.
Thanks to that, one of the most impressive performances in recent NBA history went to waste. A pretty good April Fool’s joke from Russ, when you think about it.
Oh, also from Jokic recently: this one-handed flick to beat the buzzer from just beyond the 3-point line. Sorry — the opponents‘ 3-point line.
Not to be outdone, the other recent multiple-time MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo posted an absurd statline of his own: 35 points, 20 assists, 17 rebounds — the first player ever to post that statline, even if you drop the cutoff to 15 rebounds instead of 17 — to drag Milwaukee back from a 17-point deficit and beat the Sixers.
And just for fun: the other other recent(ish) multiple-time MVP, Stephen Curry, had 52 points (on 12 threes, coming within a late-game cold streak of the single-game record), 10 rebounds, and 8 assists to beat the Grizzlies.
Some incredible basketball being played by some special talents these days. Don’t miss it!
The Celtics are back at TD Garden to host the Suns tonight (7:30 p.m., NBC Sports Boston). Here’s a preview.
See the full Celtics schedule here.
This story first appeared in Court Sense, a biweekly Celtics newsletter from Boston Globe Sports. Click here to join the fun.
Amin Touri can be reached at [email protected].
